City Spy: Lloyd Blankfein shows off his light touch

Sore loser? Lib-Dem antipathy towards Goldman could be nothing more than a vendetta from Nick Clegg's schooldays

As is usual, Goldman Sachs boss Lloyd Blankfein did not field questions at yesterday's quarterly results, leaving those duties to chief financial officer David Viniar.

But Blankfein won't be able to avoid the spotlight for long. His next very public date is May 7 at 9.30am when he hosts Goldman's annual general meeting in Manhattan.

Among the items on the agenda is a shareholder proposal to split the roles of chief executive and chairman, both held by Blankfein.

The shareholder resolution is hardly radical stuff. It proposes: "An independent Chair can enhance investor confidence in our Company and strengthen the integrity of the Board. In consideration of the potential disruption of an immediate change, we are not seeking to replace our present CEO as Chair. To foster a simple transition, we are requesting that this policy be phased in and implemented when the next CEO is chosen in the future. When a Board declares their support for this future governance reform, the Board and prospective CEO will both be aware of this change in expectation."

And what is Blankfein's view about this? Goldman's board spells it out in capital letters: "OUR BOARD UNANIMOUSLY RECOMMENDS A VOTE AGAINST THE SHAREHOLDER PROPOSAL."

Yet again, Goldman demonstrates why it is so good at handling even the mildest constructive criticism

The Goldman Sachs board of directors has given chief executive Lloyd Blankfein a vote of confidence, the Fox Business Network reports. If it were a football club of course, that would mean his days are numbered...

Nick Clegg serves up his revenge cold

Among those leading the attacks on Goldman Sachs is Vince Cable.

The Lib Dem is taking a tough line, calling for the bank to be dropped from all work for HMG.

Could it be that Cable is being egged on by his boss Nick Clegg and it's personal?

When Clegg was at Westminster School he was left out of the Liddell's House tennis team for the school inter-house tournament, despite being a good player.

The captain, Edward Roussel, now at the Daily Telegraph, felt that "Nick lacked the killer instinct. He was the nice guy of the team and no match for a fiercely competitive group that included Michael Sherwood, now co-CEO of Goldman Sachs Europe."

City's saccharine words work

While the FT's Man of the Year, Goldman chief Lloyd Blankfein, ponders where it all went wrong, his counterpart at Citigroup, Vikram Pandit, shows how to offer some contrition with Citi's quarterly results this week: "All of us at Citi recognize that we would not be where we are without the assistance of American taxpayers.

"We are gratified that Citi has been able to repay their TARP investment in our company, with a substantial return, as well as create a significant increase in the value of their equity in Citi. Still, that is not enough.

"We owe taxpayers a huge debt of gratitude for assisting us at a critical time. We are determined to repay this debt by continuing to build a strong company and contribute to America's economic recovery."

It may sound saccharine but it works. Pandit isn't being pilloried, unlike his Citi predecessors Robert Rubin and Chuck Prince, or Blankfein.

Strictly off the record

In his new book The Big Short, Michael Lewis recounts stock investor Michael Burry's dealings with Goldman.

"Three days later he heard from Goldman Sachs. His saleswoman, Veronica Grinstein, called him on her cell phone, which is what she did when she wanted to talk without being recorded."

Goldman song (to the tune of Postman Pat)...

"Goldman Sachs, Goldman Sachs, Goldman Sachs and their pots of cash,

Early every morning, usually with no warning, they pick their bets while our savings go down the pan.

Goldman Sachs, Goldman Sachs, Goldman Sachs, And their pots of cash,

All the bankers singing, more profits while engineering, their bonus pools guaranteed by the tax man,

Everybody knows their divine right to cash, as their work is God's don't you know.

Maybe, one day, they'll be judged before the law, there'll be a knock (knock knock), ring (ring ring), writs through the door (hee hee).

Goldman Sachs, Goldman Sachs, Goldman Sachs, And their pots of cash,

Screwing all the world now, treating it as a cash cow, whilst we all die for lack of fair health care."

Of course that NI letter came from business leaders... Next!

The Tories insist the round-robin letter from corporate bosses decrying Labour's plan to raise National Insurance came from the business community.

That's true, it originated with Simon Wolfson, the head of Next, who has donated £238,250 to Tory Central Office since January 2006 and has now been nominated to become a working peer by the Conservative Party... Still, it could have been worse: a paragraph in the first draft of the letter actively backing the Tories was taken out.

Asda feeling tied down

Is Asda's Wal-Mart parent not as aspirational for the UK chain as the local bosses — and could that be a reason why Andy Bond is giving up the CEO job?

Analysts at their meeting with Wal-Mart in Leeds, Asda's home city, were told that Asda is opening 500,000 sq ft of space in 2010 (five large superstores, five supermarkets and five "Living" non-food stores). Odd, because only recently Asda was talking up a five-year target of 150 Living stores (from 25 today) and 100 supermarkets (from 22 at present). To achieve that figure, they will have to go some over the following four years — opening 30 Living branches and 18 supermarkets per annum.

By comparison, Tesco is adding about two million sq ft of space in the UK this year or four times as much. The gap with Tesco is getting wider and strangely — and perhaps frustratingly for Bond — Wal-Mart doesn't seem that bothered...